The finalists were chosen from twenty-one nominations. The winner will be announced at a banquet and awards ceremony on Friday, November 16, 4:00-6:00 pm, at the Asheville Renaissance Hotel.

The Thomas Wolfe Memorial Award was founded in 1955 when the WNC Historical Association and the Louis Lipinsky family of Asheville presented the first award to North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame inductee Wilma Dykeman for The French Broad.